


Interest

by PurpleArrowzandLeather



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-05-17 00:36:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14821895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurpleArrowzandLeather/pseuds/PurpleArrowzandLeather
Summary: You live in the Tower with the Avengers and a certain raven-haired prince is watching your every move. You aren't sure that you mind it after a few close calls.





	Interest

          You absently stir your tea. Bruce had suggested it to help your stress, but you aren't quite sold on its effect yet. The book in your hand hasn't lent you any relief either, despite what Natasha had said. Clint had suggested shooting things, but you weren't that desperate.  _Maybe._

          You're shocked out of your small bubble by a poof of green light next to the third aisle of books. Every time. You're fairly certain he does that just to mess with you, since he always seems to know exactly where you are. 

          "Looking for something, Loki?"

          He hums in acknowledgement, proving your theory that he knew you were there. You can hear the quiet ruffling of pages before he moves on to the next row. He's searching for something specific, it looks like. You get up from your seat, curious as to what that might be. 

          You peer around the bookshelf and he catches your eye, his lips tilting up. "And you? Are you looking for something?"

          You huff, a bit miffed at having been caught. 

          "I didn't think so." 

          Turning around, you leave the library, grumbling under your breath about how Loki thinks he's  _soo_ clever. He's always teasing you and messing with you. It's probably because you're the one he can't get a proper rise out of. Sure, you'll huff and walk away, but he's never gotten you to act on your frustration with him.

          Though, the moment you step out into the hall, there's an arrow flying towards your head. Clint calls for you to look out a second too late and you brace for impact.  _I'm going to die._

          It never comes and you look around for your savior. Loki is standing next to you, his hand wrapped around the shaft of the arrow. You stare at him with wide eyes and Clint runs up. 

          "Sorry, my bad. Are you okay?"

          Loki scowls. "Obviously, she's fine, no thanks to you." You put a hand on Loki's arm and his eyes snap to it. 

          "He's just trying to apologize."

          You lift your fingers, remembering his small issue with skin contact, but he doesn't scold you for it. You look over at Clint, who is eyeing your hand like it should be missing.

          "I'm fine, thanks. Do try to be more careful, BirdBrain."

          "No problem. Keep safe." he winks at you before snatching the arrow away from Loki.

          When Clint is around the corner, Loki looks at you, his eyebrow raised in question. 

          You rolls your eyes. "I know, I know. 'Don't ever touch me'."

          When you turn to walk away, Loki grabs your wrist, twisting you back towards him. "Why not let me speak so that you can hear what I really have to say?"

          You're surrounded by his mass. His scent is powerful around you: sweat, leather, sweet honey, tea. He stares down at you with his intense emerald pools and you struggle just to get yourself to ignore the way his eyes linger on yours.

          You tug your wrist and his fingers spring apart to let you go. "Because maybe I don't want to hear it."

          He lets you walk away and you leave him in the hall, entering your room and shutting the door. You have Jarvis bring up the security feed in the hall and you press a hand to your face in distress.  _Stupid._ Loki's face falls and he disappears.  _Just what I need to do is give him more reasons to hate himself._

          The next time you see him is in the common area, settled on the couch with his long legs taking up the rest of the cushions. You tap one of his bare feet and they twitch as he looks up at you.  _Oh, for the love of Thor. Why is it that he has to be intimidating even in a t-shirt and sweats?_

          He doesn't seem surprised. "Yes?"

          "Mind if I sit here?"

          "Yes."

          He doesn't move and your mouth curls into a smile. You pick up his legs, effectively surprising him for the first time since ever, and settle underneath them. He's staring at you again and you smirk at him, pulling a small bag of Sour Patch Kids out of your pocket. 

          "Want one?"

          His brow lowers and he shakes his head. "No."

          "Oh well, your loss."

          You eat a few, and you can feel him still watching you. When you lick your fingers, you look over at him. He seems concerned.

          "What? You said you didn't want any."

          "Are you really going to keep eating those? You're getting sugar everywhere."

          "That's kind of the point, Loki. Live a little."

          His eyes soften and you offer him one. He puts a bookmark in his book and sets it off to the side, carefully taking the tiny piece of candy from you. 

          "You're eating tiny children?"

          "They're Sour Patch Kids." you laugh, watching him examine the small being. "It's sour on the outside, but inside it's sweet.....ish."

          "Ish?"

          "Well, since the whole point is for them to be sour, but enjoyable, they have to taste a little sweet at some point."

          He frowns. "I see."

          You giggle at him, and his eyes flick to you for a brief moment. "Come on. I dare you, Loki."

          That seems to do the trick and he tries it. His face scrunches a little, but you aren't disappointed in the end.

          "It's not.....  _entirely_ displeasing."

          You offer him the bag. "Want some more?"

          His brow furrows.

          "It's okay to say no."

          "Why are you so determined to share with me?"

          The question makes you pause and you look at him. You know what you want to say, but you can't quite bring yourself to say it. Loki's green eyes seem to search you. 

          "What is it?"

          You shrug, tracing a small circle on Loki's ankle. "Just because."

          Loki doesn't press, instead, picking up his book and opening back up to where he left off. You continue to trace the circle and briefly look up at Loki's face again. He's subtly watching you.

          You mumble out a 'thanks for saving my life' and get up, leaving Loki a little bit bewildered behind you. You don't care, walking a little faster than is probably necessary. You hadn't expected him to be so receptive to you in the least, and it's only adding to the pile of stress on your shoulders. College finals you could handle at this point, but Loki and  _emotions_ too? No way.

          You also hadn't expected that jolt of comradery. You and he had never been great friends, but you had had fun teasing him just a little bit. He'd always liked your company well enough, but you'd have small arguments and things like that. You just aren't sure where you stand. 

          Sighing and shaking your head, you decide that maybe Clint's idea of shooting things isn't so bad. You take the elevator down to the training level and dress down into your workout clothes. Natasha is down there, but other than that, you're alone. 

          You alternate between kicking the crap out of training dummies and blowing up signs at the end of the range. A hand rests on your shoulder and you turn.  _Crap._

          "Hi..." you say slowly. 

          "You've been down here four six hours, you know?" Loki responds, the rich timbre of his voice making your skin vibrate. 

          You look down at your wrist, blinking. "Wow, I guess I have."

          You don't realize how exhausted you are until your trembling muscles remind you that you have in fact been working. Sweat drips down your nose and you nod, walking away from the firing stall. Loki supports you a little when you press your hand to your forehead. 

          "It's okay. Just lightheaded."

          "Is there something troubling you?"

          In your tired state, apparently, your filter is broken, so you say the first thing that comes to mind. "College. Work. You."

          You sit down on a bench, popping the lid off of your water and downing the whole thing in thirsty gulps. 

          "Me?"

          He presses a towel to your forehead and tugs your water bottle away.

          You make a vague gesture towards him with your hand. "You. This. You act like you don't care and then suddenly you're friendly."

          "It's not that I don't care."

          "Oh, but you're friendly? Is that what I'm supposed to be getting here?"

          Loki scowls. "There is nothing to get. I wish only to spend time in your company. Is that so bad?"

          You stop. "You... You want  _my_ company?"

          "You don't try so hard to try to like me."

          You take the towel from his hand, rubbing your face before looking up at him. "You're glad that I don't like you?"

          "I'm glad that you don't pretend that you do. I have worn many false faces in my life, some of them leading me to places I would rather not have gone, but you don't care about them." He clasps one of your small hands between both of his huge ones. "You know what I've done, and yet that doesn't seem to matter."

          Your breath catches in your throat and you glance up at him. His green eyes pull you in and you almost can't find your answer.

          "You wouldn't be here if it did."

          Loki shifts forwards a bit and you close your eyes. Just as his lips meet yours, you relax. When you open your eyes again, he's gone. You spend the next ten minutes lightly touching your lips, wondering if that had been a dream. With his scent all around you, you know that it wasn't, but it was almost.... ethereal. 

          You don't get a chance to speak to him for the next few days. The Avengers are shipping out to go play with a Hydra base, and you are slipping into your catsuit. Natasha is practically budding with pride as you strap a small set of knives to your wrist. Clint hands you your sidearm and you slip your katanas around your back. 

          "No guns this time." Steve orders, strutting in in all of his glory. "This is a stealth mission only."

          Clint still makes you put the sidearm on your ankle. As your co-CO, he won't have you being helpless in the field because of mission parameters. Natasha agrees. 

          You'd be willing to bet money that Loki was already waiting in the jet, though he doesn't like flying much.  _Feels a bit too much like falling, would be my guess._

          You share his discomfort. 

          The flight isn't terribly long, only a couple hours, but it's charged with tension. everyone is geared up, and Hydra bases are generally one of the most dangerous things on the agenda these days.  _Well, besides supervillians._

          Once they're within scanning distance of the base, Tony puts the quinjet into stealth mode and turns around in his seat. "All right, kids. We are coming in over the drop zone in two minutes. Loki is going to teleport us inside the perimeter wall and from there Natasha and Clint will move in to cut the alarms." he pulls up a holo of the base. "This-" he points to a region of the building, which then highlights under his touch. "-is our goal. It's underground about three hundred feet. There's supposed to be a computer console which holds all information about known associates of Hydra. After Team Natasha-"

          Clint squawks in a rather undignified manner and Thor pats his shoulder. "You should be honored. Natasha is a worthy maiden."

          "-disables the security systems, the rest of us, are going to take down the base. Our main goal is to not get caught doing this, so if someone sees you, take them out. No Hydra agent should walk away from this."

          Jarvis informs them that they are hovering over the drop zone. 

          Tony claps his hands together. "All right, guys. Remember, we have to wait for Team Natasha before we do  _anything._ Got it?"

          There's agreement through the ship and everyone stands up. Loki, dramatic as always, snaps his fingers and they disappear in a puff of green smoke.

          Loki brushes the invisible dust off of his hands with a grin. "Here we are. Not quite a vacation home, is it?"

          You elbow him in the ribs and he looks down at you, a sly smile on his face. 

          Clint and Natasha take off quickly and the rest of the team spreads out along the interior wall, effectively blocking any escape routes. It isn't long before Natasha and Clint radio in that security is down. 

          "Now." Tony whispers. 

          You are standing in front of the east exit, just in the shadow of a spotlight as a crew walks through. It's a five man team and you sneak up behind them. Pulling your katanas out, nice and slow, you take out the fifth man. With a leap, you flip upside-down over the other four men and twist, arcing your twin blades through two necks apiece. You drag their bodies out of the way and look around for the watchtower. His beam swings over to your side of the compound just as you leave it behind.

          "I've taken over the watchtower." Clint murmurs. "Tony, you have two bogies to your left. Let Steve take them."

          "Rogers." Tony huffs, both acknowledging the order and Steve.

          You stalk close to the building, having cleared your sector and Loki is the next to show up. You will yourself not to think about what you'd like to ask him, instead gesturing him behind where you're crouched. Steve and Tony show up together and Thor after that yet. 

          "I will admit, stealthily electrocuting people is new to me, but it is fun."

          Loki snickers. 

          Ever since Thor had expanded on his power, he'd been finding new and inventive ways to use them. You aren't shocked that he'd be enjoying himself.  _Shocked._ A small giggle leaves you and Tony gives you a funny look.

          You point your bloody katana at him. "Don't judge me."

          "Wouldn't dream of it."

          Natasha unlocks the door from the command center and you all head down towards the supposed data mine.  _This had better not be a bust._

          The guards in the hallways are all yours while the others clear the rooms branching off. You can only imagine how Bruce is doing back at the tower, trying not to think about anything that could go wrong here.  _You_ get a little stressed just thinking about all the things that could go wrong.

          Shockingly, you reach the computer console without issue and Tony hands you the flash drive to download the data.

          "Be careful, kid. We're leaving Loki down here with you for protection, but Clint says we've got incoming agents outside the compound." 

          "Don't worry about me." You chuckle, waving a katana at him as he leaves. 

          Loki smirks. "You like those too much."

          "So?"

          All he does is shake his head at you. You try to start the download, but you run into a little problem. 

          "Stark, we've got a high tech encryption."

          "I've got Jarvis in the drive, and he's running it now. Give him two minutes max." He grunts, a heavy breath leaving him. "We've met some resistance out here."

          Loki huffs as the ceiling shakes. "Only some? I think that's an understatement."

          You smirk, looking down at the computer screen. Your lips turn down into a frown and you sigh. It chirps and Jarvis informs you that the algorithm is running and that the download has begun. 

          A giddy mission-complete feeling goes through you just as something stabs into your back.

          "LOKI!!!!"

          Pain sears through your body as you hit the floor, and you see Loki's furious green eyes looking for you only to find your body on the ground. His eyes widen upon seeing you, blood pooling under your crumpled form. 

          A flash of light blinds you and when you can finally see again, your vision is black at the edges. You croak out Loki's name. You can feel his hands fussing over you, but you can't hear or feel much else. 

          "Was' goin on?" You slur.

          "It doesn't matter. You're going to be all right."

          You feek his fingers swipe something away from your lips and you have the feeling that it's blood. "What happened?" You ask, getting a bit confused as to why he's fussing so much.

          "You were stabbed."

          "Oh. Thank goodness."

          Loki's hands pause and you can nearly feel his puzzled expression. "What?"

          "I thought it might be something awful." 

          He laughs shakily. "Not overly so."   

          His long fingers press against your back and you groan, the black in your vision clouding out everything except Loki's concerned gaze.  _Why is he so distressed?_

          You black out before you have a chance to ask him.

          When you wake up with the beep of an EKG, you remember exactly why. You groan quietly and look around.  _Loki?_  

          He's sleeping on the edge of your bed, his raven hair half-covering his face and his long fingers wrapped around yours. Despite the bags under his eyes, he looks almost like an angel. You wouldn't wake him even if the world was ending.

          He nearly rouses when your heart rate picks up, but you quickly calm down to keep him asleep. You raise your hand to stroke his hair without thinking and he sinks into the bed a little. A smile touches your lips and he hums contentedly. 

          His rest doesn't last and a sound akin to a purr leaves him. "If I knew you would be so gentle, I think I might have told you how I felt long ago."

          "I would have teased you then, or called you a liar." 

          He doesn't move, but a chuckle leaves him. "You already tease me."

          You stroke his hair again and he smiles softly. "I suppose I'll have to tease you more then." You stop for a moment, and when his expression turns almost forlorn, you continue brushing. "You know, I was never quite sure what you thought."

          "Do you have a clearer picture now?" He asks, pulling his chair closer to the bed and kissing your small fingers. 

          "I don't know. You could be lying, after all."

          He chuckles. "I suppose I'll spend your recovery convincing you."

          You groan, the pain in your back reminding you of why you shouldn't move, but you smile at Loki anyway.

          "Sounds wonderful."


End file.
